United States gives $85 million in aid for Palestinian refug

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United States gives $85 million in aid for Palestinian refugees
Posted: 01:38 PM ET
From CNN’s Charley Keyes
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday
$85-millon dollars of humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees.

“What it does show is our continuing commitment to humanitarian
assistance to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank,” State Department
Spokesman Gordon Duguid told CNN.

The money will be provided to the United Nations, with $25-million for
food, medicines and critical humanitarian assistance in the West Bank and Gaza.

The remaining $60-million will go toward education, health care and social
services for 4.6-million Palestinian refugees across the whole region,
including Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The U.S. contribution is for fiscal year 2009, that began October 1, and
is channeled through the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in
the Near East, UNRWA. And the U.S. is planning to make further contributions
this year. Last year the U.S. contributed more than $184-million in response to
the UNRWA’s 2008 requests for aid.